22nd June 2019 - Seaford Head and RSPB Lodmoor

A lovely walk around Seaford Head and the Cuckmere produced a couple of good birds in the form of a pair of eider on the rocks at Hope Gap and a very unseasonal and mobile black redstart in the scrub below Harry’s Bush. A pub lunch at the Giant’s Rest was followed by stops at Charleston Reedbed and then on the downs behind Seaford where a number of plants of the late flowering form of burnt orchid were in full bloom plus at least two plants of round-headed rampion.

Eider, Hope Gap, East Sussex

Burnt Orchid, Seaford, East Sussex

During the day, news had been coming out at a regular intervals of a marsh warbler (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQMcdr8SDqI) along Beachdown Way at Lodmoor which was reported to be ‘showing well’. A potential new bird for me and one that Dad had not seen in the UK for many years resulted in much ‘umming and arring’ by Dad and a late afternoon twitch to Dorset in my car which was running on empty by the time we reached Lodmoor. Fortunately the bird was still where Dave Chown had seen it earlier, obligingly bursting into song with a minute or two of us arriving at 19:00 and then sitting out in full view in a reedy ditch about 30 metres from where we were standing. It repeated the same behaviour a couple more times though the views were more obscured than the ones we’d had earlier. A marsh harrier here too but with nothing else to see at Lodmoor we limped to the nearest garage for fuel and food before heading back home.

Marsh Warbler, RSPB Lodmoor, Weymouth, Dorset